10. The law says a person needs to make their complaint to us within a year of becoming aware of the problem. We cannot investigate complaints brought to us after one year, unless we consider there is a good reason to do so. We have discussed this with Mr K to understand the reasons why he could not do so. We have also considered the time the organisation has taken to respond to Mr K and any delays experienced due to advocacy challenges.
11. Mr K started his complaint in March 2023 and the Group completed its complaints process on 4 September 2023. During the complaints process Mr K added new instances of being unable to attend appointments up until 29 June 2023.
12. Based on the legislation that govern us Mr K should have brought us aspects of his complaint relating the medication by April 2024, aspects relating dental care by May 2024 and issues relating the rearranged appointments by June 2024 at the latest.
13. Mr K brought to us the entirety of his complaint on 11 November 2024.
14. As Mr K brough his complaint to us outside the 12 months indicated in the legislation, we must consider the reasons for the delay and if it is reasonable to set aside the time limit in these circumstances.
15. From the evidence Mr K submitted we can see he was able to raise the formal complaint with the Group himself. He was independently able to provide further information in writing to the Group on 3 July 2023, during the second stage of the process.
16. Mr K’s advocate informed us Mr K found our complaints form far more complicated and this is the reason way he needed further support with this.
17. The Group provided a final response letter directing Mr K to us on 4 September 2023.
18. Mr K’s advocate gave evidence that the advocacy service was short staffed between September 2023 and 1 March 2024, and was unable to progress the high volume of cases it usually handles. Mr K’s advocacy service gave evidence it was only able to get in contact with Mr K on 1 March 2024, to help him with the complaint to us.
19. Mr K’s advocacy service also informed us it has filled in the complaint form with Mr K between 1 March 2024 and September 2024. The advocacy service confirmed it has corresponded with Mr K in writing during the period and although it has used the 1st class Royal Mail service, letters reached Mr K after two or three weeks.
20. Mr K’s advocacy service also confirmed it was unable to submit the complaint form to us until 11 November 2024 due to a backlog in the casework.
21. Mr K also kindly gave evidence about the delay. He explained he is isolating 24/7 and this has been the case for the past two and a half year, he struggles with insomnia, usually seeping only 2 hours a night, and with his mental health. Mr K also said he was concerned he would be forced to explain his circumstances when it was clear that his was difficult for him.
22. We are sorry to hear Mr K experienced further delays because he was concerned he would be forced to explain his circumstances. We would like to reassure Mr K we request further information about time delays as we are keen to consider all complaints and a detailed understanding of personal circumstances helps us make robust decisions.
23. Based on the evidence we have we can see Mr K was able to engage in the local complaints process. There is evidence he promptly replied to the second stage of the complaint process, he included in his complaint any new issues that arose during the complaints process. He was also able to articulate very clearly all his concerns during the local complaint process. We are pleased to see Mr K’s isolation did not impede him to raise a formal complaint and complete the local complaints process.
24. We accept the advocacy service evidence in respect to the delays experienced between September 2023 and 1 March 2024 and between September 2024 and 11 November 2024.
25. We recognise Mr K informs us he found our process more difficult. We would like to reassure Mr K we would have made adjustments to help him communicate with us when filling the complaint form, as we are keen to facilitate complaints to us from all members of the public.
26. As such, if Mr K would like to refer any other complaints to us in the future we would advise he sends us a copy of the final response together with a covering letter. We will then post the complaint form to him. Once the complaint form is returned, we can communicate with him further if he wishes to make any amendments to the complaint form.
27. Sadly, in this case we have not found sufficient reason to set the time limit to one side and therefore will take no further action on this complaint. It is our view Mr K could have tried to communicate directly with us as soon as September 2023 or could have prepared the information he wanted to communicate to the advocate in readiness for when the advocacy service would have been able to process the documents, namely in March 2024.
28. Complaints give us valuable insight into the organisations we investigate, and we recognise this has been an emotionally challenging process for Mr K. We thank Mr K for bringing the complaint to us for consideration.